HOUSTON–Madison Bumgarner faced hitters at Minute Maid Park Tuesday, but he did not face the Houston Astros.
While Bumgarner took another crucial step in his lengthy rehab process, his absence from the Giants starting rotation remains a glaring issue for a team that clearly missed its ace in an 11-2 loss.
The defending World Series champions sent Gerrit Cole to the mound against the Giants, and though Bumgarner threw off the same rubber hours earlier, it was rookie lefty Andrew Suárez who earned the tough assignment of contending with the Astros lineup.
Cole entered Tuesday’s contest with a 1.75 ERA, the second-best mark in the American League behind Houston’s starter for Wednesday’s series finale, Justin Verlander.
Suárez started with a 4.88 ERA in six career Major League outings and didn’t have the command to avoid the barrels of Houston’s bats.
“I think if I execute my game plan, I should be fine but I left a lot of mistakes and I just wasn’t very good today,” Suárez said.
A healthy Bumgarner might be just what the Giants need to take advantage of a weak National League West, but the two hitters he faced in a live bullpen session Tuesday were teammates Gregor Blanco and Miguel Gomez. Though Bumgarner was pleased with the command of his breaking balls in a 30-pitch stint, he’s still at least two weeks away from rejoining the rotation as he’ll make his first rehab start Saturday with Triple-A Sacramento.
Suárez was the pitcher the Giants sent to the mound when the lights came on and the Astros ensured his night didn’t last long. After the rookie set down the first six hitters he faced, back-to-back doubles by Evan Gattis and Max Stassi helped Houston open the scoring in the third.
Armed with a 3-0 edge entering the fourth, Houston padded its advantage with RBI singles from Stassi, the No. 8 hitter, and Tony Kemp, the No. 9 hitter, to take a commanding 5-0 lead.
Though Cole hadn’t allowed more than three runs in a start all season, the Giants showed signs they could rally thanks to the work of the pitcher’s brother-in-law and the hottest hitter in baseball, Brandon Crawford.
Crawford began the evening with a .444 average in the month of May and improved upon that mark with a second inning single off of Cole. Crawford saved his best swing of the night for their fifth inning showdown, as he launched a two-run home run into the left field bleachers –known at Minute Made Park as the Crawford Boxes.
Crawford’s sister Amy married Cole in November of 2016, and with two hits against his brother-in-law Tuesday, he’s now 4-for-8 against Cole since the right-hander officially joined the family.
“We don’t talk about it a whole lot off the field,” Crawford said. “Especially our at-bats. We’ll talk about baseball plenty but we don’t really talk about our at-bats a whole lot.”
Due to a high pitch count, the Giants only had to face Cole for the first six innings. But by the top of the seventh, the Astros’ 9-2 lead was too much to overcome. A costly leadoff walk in the bottom of the sixth by reliever Pierce Johnson sparked a four-run inning that put the game out of reach as the Astros used the second half of the game to showcase their firepower.

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The Giants’ offense ranks among the better units in the National League, but they fell a game below .500 Tuesday after another poor performance from a starting pitcher. They can’t expect an inexperienced arm like Suárez to go toe-to-toe with one of the game’s elite starters in Cole, but the lack of organizational pitching depth has hurt the club as much as injuries have during the first two months of the year.
With Bumgarner and Johnny Cueto out, Jeff Samardzija has struggled while neither Chris Stratton or Ty Blach is enjoying a breakthrough season. Veteran left-hander Derek Holland was a nice free agent pickup, but the Giants didn’t expect him to be more than a fifth starter.
Suárez and fellow prospect Tyler Beede were forced into action early in the year, but Beede didn’t stick and Suárez is now in danger of losing his spot when Bumgarner returns. The left-hander is slated to pitch again when the Giants travel to Coors Field next week, but San Francisco may consider adding Triple-A starter Dereck Rodriguez to the rotation if Suárez’s struggles continue.
After Bumgarner faced hitters Tuesday, manager Bruce Bochy said he’d like the ace to make three rehab starts before he returns to the mound in a Giants uniform. But if the woes of Bochy’s starting staff continues, the Giants may dream up a plan for Bumgarner to join the club ahead of schedule.